Glass Walls (Stories of Tolerance and Intolerance from the Indian Subcontinent and Australia)

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About the Book Glass Walls challenges readers to look deeply into their own prejudices and reveals how small intimacies of intolerance become the bedrock of world tragedies that tear humanity apart. A powerful anthology.

In this vibrant collection of short fiction, editors Meenakshi Bharat and Sharon Rundle bring together a diverse group of writers from the Indian subcontinent and Australia to explore the themes of tolerance and intolerance. Their stories are compelling, urgent and thought-provoking. They trace the lives of those affected by the metaphorical and literal walls erected by society to offer a glimpse of a divided world, but one that is by no means devoid of compassion.

Foreword This splendid collection of stories, edited by Meenakshi Bharat and Sharon Rundle, has been so meticulously put together that it truly doesn't need a foreword.

And yet, when Meenakshi and Sharon asked me to write about intolerance, which is the overarching theme of this volume, I found myself accepting with alacrity! There is a growing and pervasive sense of distrust and animosity in the world that I am simply unable to adjust to, and the book provides an ideal platform to explore this and to share my demons.

As I see it-like Meenakshi, Sharon, the other contributors to this volume and, indeed, many others that you and I meet and share discussions with, or have never met but who share our anguish-the rapid growth of intolerance across the world is as confusing as it is deeply distressing. I am unable to understand or reconcile myself with its cause and prevalence, and don't know if we will ever live in a world of deep tolerance.

Introduction The world is witnessing an alarming escalation of intolerance. Mutual respect seems to be withering in the face of deliberate disrespect, causing offence and an alarming tendency to disregard the values and lives of others. Yet sometimes there are those whose tolerance and humanity illuminate the way to peaceful co-existence. Glass Walls is a collection of short fiction which seeks to do the same; to cast light upon the nefarious and insidious elements of intolerance and to offer us glimpses of hope. The results have been most revealing.